Hello Mr. President.. What About Term Limits….?

Among the things you and your Coalition government campaigned on was Constitutional Reform. In fact, some key areas of the Constitution were further particularly mentioned and it was said that reforming them will be made a priority and done with urgency.

Key among those issues mentioned particularly was the issue of Term Limit and the Upper Age Limit. It was said that these two [and others]will be dealt with forthwith. But it’s been nine months since you took office and we haven’t heard a bill being passed to amend the term limits.

Mr President, I know some people will be of the view that we should be patient and wait for the Constitutional Review and Reform which will be done through a referendum; but, we have seen that government pushed through the reform of the upper age limit. So, why not the term limit?

The people in Africa have for long battled with the issue of longevity and overstaying of leaders that setting of Term Limits will be received with great hope.

It is clear that in the final analysis removing the upper age limit clause benefits the executive more, as it will – and indeed it has – enable the executive appoint people who wouldn’t otherwise have been appointed. A perfect example is the vice president [the appointment of whom raised eyebrows as some people are querying, saying that a position was held for someone for nine months, and that a Constitutional provision was changed just because of one person].

But the removal of the Term Limit clause will be of more benefit to the ordinary citizen. We voted for your Coalition government to ensure that longevity is a thing of the past.

Mr President, we want to see term limits in the Constitution. Similarly, we would like to see the simple majority clause also removed; that a candidate must obtain more than fifty percent of the votes in order to be elected, otherwise there should be a second round. These are the clauses that are of more benefit to ordinary citizens. We hope to hear something on these issues as soon as possible.